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I vaguely recall reading Soul of a New Machine years ago, but I don't recall there being a lot of SWE lessons in it. Maybe it was because I read it so long ago

I vaguely recall reading Soul of a New Machine years ago, but I don't recall there being a lot of SWE lessons in it. Maybe it was because I read it so long ago. Mind sharing a few things you got from this book?

ghaff 6y ago
It's been a long time since I read it as well and I knew the hardware/microcode people in the book better than the OS folks--and I think the book probably focused on them more. Maybe it's not really SWE lessons per se as so much as just a really good account of a computer systems project. (I worked at Data General for many years though I joined a few years after the events of the book.) Showstopper (about the development of Windows NT) is more focused on software obviously.
abraae 6y ago
The greatest lesson I took from the book was "no mode switch". This is an excellent principle for software development as well IMO.